Re: How insecure are cable connections, versus dialup?
hi ya chip
On Sat, 7 Dec 2002, Jeffrey Taylor wrote:
> Your exposure is how much time you spend connected. Cable or dial-up
> makes little difference. In both cases you should have a firewall.
...
> Quoting Chip Rose <ncrose@pinn.net>:
> > I'm thinking of getting a Cox cable connection/modem, and was wondering
> > how hard it is to make the static IP address secure. I don't have a lot
> > of knowledge in this area. What is needed? A cable modem that I could
> > lease or buy on Ebay, and a network interface card, and turn off all
> > unneeded services - how easy would it be for someone to hack me, and what
> > all could they generally accomplish? Is getting a cable connection a
> > no-no for someone of my limited knowledge level?
PPP dialups shoould be more secure ... ( less people on that copper )
- just you and the isp and anybody else using that ppp server
cable ... its you and all your neighbors .... watching/sharing that copper
cable or ppp makes no differences for ya in terms of security
- get the benefit of faster downloads w/ cable
(no difference ==> you wont know till some homework has been done)
some folks like to sniff passwds... those are some of the ones you
should worry about... ( there are ssh based pwd sniffers too )
- they break into the easiest box to break into and
sniff passwds of eveybody else
( login once and stay logged in -- my paranoia level )
if security is an issue
- keep your ppp dialup passwd different from other passwd
- keep your email acct ( chip@foo.com ) different
than your login acct ( crose ) and diff pwd
- keep your vpn login and pwd different than the above
- lots of other "security howto" depending on your paranoia level
( basic minimum, backup your stuff you care about,
( use secure services like ssh instead of telnet/ftp/ppp,
( harden your server ( turn stuff off you dont need ),
( get a separate box for your firewall and gateway
( ...blah...
if someone wanted to play with your box..
- they can have you send out their spam for thjem
- they can "rm -rf /" your machine
- they can run games, or use your machine for distributing
whatever their buddies will be downloading
- tightening your box
- follow debian's security-hwoto
- get somebody to help you setup your firewall
have fun
alvin
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